China as Victim

China has pointed the finger back at the West, according to China says suffers "massive" Internet spy damage:

China has suffered "massive" losses of state secrets through the Internet, a senior official said, as China faces reports that it has raided the computer networks of Western powers.

Vice Minister of Information Industry Lou Qinjian said his country was the target of a campaign of computer infiltration and subversion...

"The Internet has become the main technological channel for external espionage activities against our core, vital departments," he wrote in Chinese Cadres Tribune, a magazine.

"In recent years Party, government and military organs and national defense scientific research units have had many major cases of loss, theft and leakage of secrets, and the damage to national interests has been massive and shocking..."

China's computer networks were riddled with security holes that made a mockery of the ruling Communist Party's censorship and exposed valuable secrets to spies, Lou said.

The United States and other "hostile" powers were exploiting those weakness and their dominance of technology to use the Internet for "political infiltration", he said.

"In the Internet technology products exported by the United States there are 'back doors' planted to engage in technological infiltration and theft of secrets," Lou said.

The story Chinese Official Accuses Nations of Hacking has more details:

Lou said the electronic espionage against China has met with success. It therefore needs to be addressed by President Hu Jintao's government, he added, with additional investment in computer security and perhaps formation of a unified information security bureau.

"In recent years, party, government and military organs and national defense scientific research units have had many major cases of loss, theft and leakage of secrets," he said, "and the damage to national interests has been massive and shocking." (emphasis added)

Imagine the Chinese are considering a "unified information security bureau." What do we have? Check the next post for thoughts on that.